different between skedaddle vs scuttle

English

Etymology

19th century US - dramatically appearing and gaining prominence in Civil War military contexts around 1861, and rapidly passing into more general use. Possibly an alteration of British dialect scaddle (“to run off in a fright”), from the adjective scaddle (“wild, timid, skittish”), from Middle English scathel, skadylle (“harmful, fierce, wild”), perhaps of North Germanic/Scandinavian origin, from Old Norse *sköþull; or from Old English *scaþol, *sceaþol (see scathel); akin to Old Norse skaði (“harm”).

Possibly related to the Ancient Greek ???????? (skédasis, “scattering”), ????????? (skedasmós, “dispersion”). Possibly related to scud or scat.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /sk??dæd?l/
• Rhymes: -æd?l

Verb

skedaddle (third-person singular simple present skedaddles, present participle skedaddling, simple past and past participle skedaddled)

1. (informal, intransitive, US) To move or run away quickly.
   • 1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift [Avon ed., 1976, pl. 122]:

     Then filled with inspiration he drove in his Buick, the busted muffler blasting in the country lanes and the great long car skedaddling dangerously on the curves. Lucky for the woodchucks they were already hibernating.
2. (transitive, regional) To spill; to scatter.

Synonyms

• (move or run away quickly): flee, vamoose, scat, take off, make tracks, get lost, kick rocks, hightail; see also Thesaurus:move quickly, Thesaurus:rush or Thesaurus:flee

Translations

Noun

skedaddle (plural skedaddles)

1. (informal) The act of running away; a scurrying off.

Translations

See also

• Appendix:Fanciful 19th century American coinages

References

• 1897, Hunter, Robert, and Charles Morris, editors, Universal Dictionary of the English Language, v4, p4291: "Etym. doubtful; perhaps allied to scud. To betake one's self hurriedly to flight; to run away as in a panic; to fly in terror. (A word of American origin.)"
• Michael Quinion (7 February 2004) , “Skedaddle”, in World Wide Words

English

Alternative forms

• skuttle

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?sk?t?l/, [?sk?t??], [?sk?t??]
• (US) IPA^(key): /?sk?t?l/, [?sk????], [?sk????]
• Rhymes: -?t?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English scuttel, scutel, from Old English scutel (“dish, platter”), from Latin scutella, diminutive form of Latin scutra (“flat tray, dish”), perhaps related to Latin scutum (“shield”); compare Dutch schotel and German Schüssel.

Noun

scuttle (plural scuttles)

1. A container like an open bucket (usually to hold and carry coal).
   • 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, ch 4:

     All through dinner—which was long, in consequence of such accidents as the dish of potatoes being mislaid in the coal skuttle and the handle of the corkscrew coming off and striking the young woman in the chin—Mrs. Jellyby preserved the evenness of her disposition.

2. A broad, shallow basket.
3. (obsolete, Northern England and Scotland) A dish, platter or a trencher.

Usage notes

The sense of "dish, platter" survives in compounds like scuttle-dish (a large dish).

Translations

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Middle French escoutille (compare French écoutille), from Old Norse skaut (“corner of a cloth, of a sail”), or alternatively from Spanish escotilla, ultimately from Gothic ???????????????????????? (skauts, “projecting edge, fringe”), from Proto-Germanic *skautaz (“corner; wedge; lap”). Compare German Schoß, Old English s??at. More at sheet.

Noun

scuttle (plural scuttles)

1. A small hatch or opening in a boat. Also, small opening in a boat or ship for draining water from open deck.
2. (construction) A hatch that provides access to the roof from the interior of a building.

Synonyms

• (hatch that provides access to the roof): roof hatch

Translations

Verb

scuttle (third-person singular simple present scuttles, present participle scuttling, simple past and past participle scuttled)

1. (transitive, nautical) To cut a hole or holes through the bottom, deck, or sides of (as of a ship), for any purpose.
2. (transitive) To deliberately sink one's ship or boat by any means, usually by order of the vessel's commander or owner.
   • 2002, Richard Côté, Theodosia Burr Alston: Portrait of a Prodigy, Corinthian Books (2002), ?ISBN, page 325:

     In this version, the Patriot was boarded by pirates (or the crew and passengers were overpowered by mutineers), who murdered everyone and then looted and scuttled the ship.

   • 2003, Richard Norton Smith, The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick, 1880-1955, Northwestern University Press (2003), ?ISBN, page 238:

     To lay the foundation for an all-weather dock at Shelter Bay, he filled an old barge with worn-out grindstones from the Thorold paper mill, then scuttled the vessel.

   • 2007, Michael Mueller, Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler's Spymaster, Naval Institute Press (2007), ?ISBN, page 17:

     He decided that before scuttling the ship to prevent her falling into enemy hands he had to get the dead and wounded ashore.

   • 2009, Nancy Toppino, Insiders' Guide to the Florida Keys and Key West, Insiders' Guide (2009), ?ISBN, page 227:

     In recent years, steel-hull vessels up to 350 feet long have been scuttled in stable sandy-bottom areas, amassing new communities of fish and invertebrates and easing the stress and strain on the coral reef by creating new fishing and diving sites.

3. (transitive, by extension, in figurative use) Undermine or thwart oneself (sometimes intentionally), or denigrate or destroy one's position or property; compare scupper.

   The candidate had scuttled his chances with his unhinged outburst.

Translations

Etymology 3

See scuddle.

Verb

scuttle (third-person singular simple present scuttles, present participle scuttling, simple past and past participle scuttled)

1. (intransitive) To move hastily, to scurry.
   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 3

     there was a wisp or two of fine seaweed that had somehow got in, and a small crab was still alive and scuttled across the corner, yet the coffins were but little disturbed.

   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 8

     Morel scuttled out of the house before his wife came down.

Usage notes

The word "scuttle" carries a crab-like connotation, and is mainly used to describe panic-like movements of the legs, akin to crabs' leg movements.

Translations

Noun

scuttle (plural scuttles)

1. A quick pace; a short run.

Further reading

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language
• An historical dictionary
• The English Dialect Dictionary
• Scuttle in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

References

Anagrams

• cutlets, cuttles